Lonely Oaks (Vergiss Meyn Nicht)

• Duration: 103 minutes
• Director: Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl, Jens Muehlhoff
• Country: Germany
• Year: 2023
• Rating: (18)

Over the last decade, environmental activists have occupied a dense forest in West Germany. Meyn’s footage, immersive and at times intentionally disorientating – it was mostly shot with a 360° camera mounted on to his bicycle helmet, allowing the filmmaker to move freely across treetops – features interviews with activists, captures brutal police evictions, and interrogates intentions of the occupation alongside the wider landscape of climate activism. It was during a 2018 police operation, when they attempted to clear a site, that Meyn fell to his death. It’s a shocking moment that suffuses the film with pathos and tension, as well as driving its urgent search. 

Posthumously completed by a group of Meyn’s friends and fellow students, Lonely Oaks is a timely and moving documentary about the climate crisis and the nuances of protest.